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training:inventory_oddity_of_8_to_14_digit_part_numbers

Oddity of 8 to 14 digit part numbers

System Five treats 8 to 14 digit part numbers as barcodes

An 8 to 14, all-digit (just 0 to 9's), part number in System Five will be treated as a barcode.

Each part in System Five can have one or more barcodes attached to it on its Alternate Supplier tab. The benefit is that on an invoice or purchase order, either the part number or the barcode can be entered or scanned, and the correct part will be found and added to the invoice or purchase order.

Now imagine a part number 01700030 being created for an ice cream bar. Then, a UPC barcode 077567254252 added for the ice cream on its Alternate Suppliers tab. On an invoice, either 01700030 or 077567254252 could be entered or scanned to add the ice cream to the invoice.

Imagine again a part number Happy Face T-Shirt being created for a t-shirt. Then an EAN-8 barcode 01700030 added for the t-shirt on its Alternate Suppliers tab. If 01700030 was entered on an invoice, System Five would not know if were trying to add the t-shirt or the ice cream bar; it would pop-up a dialog box asking the user to select either the ice-cream bar or the t-shirt. Perhaps to reduce those pop-up boxes, 8 to 14 digit part numbers are treated as barcodes and display as such on a part record's Inventory tab next to the Standard Cost. This may flag the user that something is amiss with the barcode field if it is the same as the part number. The solution is to change the part number for the ice cream bar by adding a letter to it, or changing the length of the digits to be less than 8, or greater than 14 digits.


Screenshots of barcode behavior in part record

Barcode field to right of part number displays the part number instead of the barcode from Alternate Supplier tab:

Barcode field to right of part number displays the part number instead of the barcode from Alternate Supplier tab

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This is the barcode from Alternate Supplier tab that one might rather use:

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If you change the part number, the correct barcode will appear


Purchase Orders and Labels appear to print the wrong barcode for these parts

On a Purchase Order form design, or shelf label printing, one can customize the columns or data that appears. For some suppliers, they may demand the Supplier Part Number and also the UPC code printed on every line on purchase order to them. So, that is a problem with these 8 to 14 digit part numbers. You could go ahead and add the barcode, like 077567254252, to the alternate supplier tab. But, instead of printing 077567254252 as the barcode, it would instead print the 8 to 14 digit part number, like 01700030.

Purchase Orders print the part number as barcode

Labels print the part number as barcode


There is a work-around that fixes purchase orders, but not label printing:

  • Edit or add the barcode line on the alternate suppliers tab to add the supplier name in the supplier column next to the barcode. This will print the correct barcode on a purchase order for these 8 to 14 digit part numbers. However, it will not print the correct barcode on a shelf label.

Purchase Orders will now print the alternate supplier barcode as barcode

but, labels will still print the part number as barcode


There is only one work-around guaranteed to work:

  • Add a letter to the part number; or add or reduce digits so the part number is less than 8, or greater than 14 digits (0 to 9's).

Purchase Orders will print the alternate supplier barcode as barcode

And, labels will now print the alternate supplier barcode as barcode

training/inventory_oddity_of_8_to_14_digit_part_numbers.txt · Last modified: 2017/06/07 15:33 (7 years ago) by sjackson